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Learning is what we do - thoughts from a week on the road

At Kineo we’re always listening out for new trends and themes that we can use to continually improve the learning we develop for our clients. Kineo Managing Director, Matt Johnson, sums up this ethos in his twitter bio by declaring himself a ‘lifelong learner’.

The Kineo Asia Pacific team has been on the road recently in Australia, attending the National VET conference, LearnX Live and Learning@Work, and there have been many common themes that have been cropping up throughout, both in the way of conference sessions we’ve attended and conversations we’ve had on the Kineo stand.

4 key trends everyone in L&D is talking about:

Demonstrating the value of the L&D department

Proving the ‘return on investment’ of an L&D department never seems to be off the agenda. Whilst it serves an important role, it is an overhead to a business and there will always be pressure to prove the value that it brings.

The continual development of technology keeps moving the goalposts. A few years ago, board members may have been satisfied by being presented with numbers, such as how many people undertook a formal learning object; how many people passed the eLearning course etc. But as the range of learning experiences increases, and the range of technology increases, the challenge is on for L&D teams to be able to present insights that show how learning in the organisation has impacted the bottom line. As illustrated by Matt Johnson during his LearnX keynote, many learners will instantly turn to Google to find the answers to the questions or problems they have. (To put this into context, Google now processes over 3.5 million search queries a day… or over 2 trillion per year!)

So, if your learners consistently use Google or collaborate with their colleagues to learn – that is, not doing any ‘formal’ learning (or fulfilling the '10%' of 70:20:10), how does the L&D department prove its worth? Can it ever prove its worth? Check out Matt’s slides from the Learning @ work conference on bridging the learning impact gap for a few ideas.

Of course, whilst technology can appear to be a potential hindrance, it also offers ways in which we can prove the value of learning – Experience API was also a topic of many conversations but it doesn’t appear to be something that has been widely adopted and there seems to be more question marks around where – and how – to start embedding it into a learning strategy.

Understanding learners

Understanding exactly how learners want to learn seems to be another question causing L&D professionals to scratch their heads – but also understanding the motivations to learn was also a prevalent question. How do L&D teams supply bitesized and just-in-time learning ‘Google-esque’ style to those with a growth mindset? Is this something can ever be done? Are L&D teams flexible enough to deliver this?

Matt discussed the language of learners in his LearnX Keynote. Do learners and employers have the same perception of what constitutes learning? If it isn’t a ‘formal’ learning object do learners believe that they are learning something when are invited to take part in new projects or collaborate with colleagues?

If interactive video was top of the list, virtual reality was hot on its heels. Of course, VR is becoming more accessible due to products on the market such as google cardboard and Oculus Rift.

A lot of people were talking about VR and how this can be used as part of learning in their organisation. Of course, some industries and sectors lend themselves more to VR than others, but gaining an understanding of how it can be used across different industries was definitely at the forefront of many people’s minds. Leading the way were the healthcare and health and safety subject matters.

Social learning

Now, on a slightly different note, it was surprising perhaps that social learning wasn’t on many people’s agenda- despite numerous conversations about it. Social learning is the subject of a lot of chatter and it’s a subject that comes up time and again – but actually embedding it into an organisation and understanding the value it brings is often brought into question.

In summary...

There are some recurring problems cropping up in L&D departments across the country – but the greatest means to solving those problems – technology - is consistently changing which makes it hard to keep up.

Get in touch for a consultation on how to evaluate your learning, how to embed social learning or how to use new technologies in your learning strategy.

About the Author

Victoria
Marketing Manager - Asia Pacific

Victoria has worked in the elearning industry for over 5 years, beginning her journey in Scotland before immigrating to Australia. Victoria has over 10 years' online and offline marketing experience and she works with the team to create Asia-Pacific focused content, in addition to organising events for Kineo to host or attend.